GS1000 smoke coming from the engine breather

[RUSSP]

Hi Guys

Got a bit of a problem with my GS1000 engine wonder if anyone can give me a bit of advise

When the motor starts to warm up I get a lot of smoke coming from the engine breather on top of the rocker cover.

and it seem to be pressurising the crankcase pushing some oil out via the cylinder base gasket

I am thinking piston rings done a compression test and the cylinders all seem ok pressure wise

I am in the process of starting to strip the engine to check the piston rings and probably replace but if anyone has any other suggestions I would be grateful

for your knowledge

thanks in advance 

Cheers

Russ

 

 

[Blubber]

Had the same on my gsx1100esd: smoke out of the breather. Piston ring were f*cked. Wiseco to the rescue 

[wraith]

Can be two things.

1. Piston rings/bores, bore time 

2. Are you storing it in a cold place and the engine is getting condensation on/in it? If so it may just be the condensation burning off when the motor is worming up.

Edited April 29, 2018 by wraith

[CockneyRick]

Or you simply put too much oil in it  

[arnout]

5 hours ago, RUSSP said:

When the motor starts to warm up I get a lot of smoke coming from the engine breather on top of the rocker cover.

Venting off just water vapour from condensation in the cases seems probable. Also if you've recently changed the oil that might contain water as well.. That is, the first couple of rides on my EFE using mineral oil to help bed in the rings of the new pistons/bore quite a bit off steam escaped from the breather hose. (Thought the loom was shorting out!)

So.. If the compression is OK I'd say let the engine run and get to decent temperature a few times and for longer periods. This should get rid of the water inside the engine.

5 hours ago, RUSSP said:

..and it seem to be pressurising the crankcase pushing some oil out via the cylinder base gasket

If the engine breather isn't blocked (make sure it isn't) this oil weeping is a completely unrelated issue. Slightly leaky base gaskets are not uncommon. More a cosmetic nuisance than mechanical problem (unless the gasket is breaking up and blocking the oilways to the exhaust camshaft ).

[RUSSP]

Thanks guys that's very useful information 

[johnr]

are you using fully synthetic engine oil? if so, drain it out and refill with a mid range semi synth or better sitll, a good old fashioned mineral oil. these are old low tech engines and they were designed to run on old low tech oil. putting modern thin pissy synthetic oil in it will just cause everything to leak. i had a problem with the oil light on my old kat flickering at tickover. as soon as i sacked the synth and filled it with duckhams mineral oil, it stopped flickering, stopped smoking and actually ran better.

Edited April 29, 2018 by johnr

[johnr]

also, what might appear to be a slightly weepy base gasket, often proves to be oil running down the centre studs where the o rings on the cylinder head studs have perished and allowed oil to run down the stud and givee the appearance of a leaky gasket.

[gshub]

I used Duckhams 20/50 in my Gs1000s for years about 95000miles Roger Upperton stripped it down Rebuilt motor but he did say he had never seen such a clean motor inside but I don't think you can buy it any more?...

[johnr]

we used to call it green slime! but i cant find anyone local who sells it now.

[johnr]

i use morris now, olt tech stuff in proper metal tins.

[CockneyRick]

Same in my Yosh  

[wraith]

For the good old gs/gsx motors you can not beat mineral oil, but you may find not all bike shops will do it as they are more geared up for the modded things 

Went into a place called CMC near where I used to live and asked them for some mineral oil, they looked at me as if I was seeking Chinese 

[Dezza]

If you fit a clear plastic pipe to your cambox vent, then the amount of water vapour that comes out of one of these big air cooled lumps immediately becomes obvious after it condenses half way along the pipe (If the pipe is long enough that is.

I saw Steve Burns topping up the oil on his Spondon GSX Turbo (the steel framed one, just before he topped it) with Castrol GTX. If mineral was good enough for that then it's good enough for me. I have never bothered with semi-synth oils and now use shell mineral oil bought in bulk. You can get 12l from Smith and Allen on Eblag for a pittance.

[BigT]

I'm a bit confused at how you think it's venting and pressurizing the crank case at the same time

I'm with Dezza, run a clear plastic pipe back past the air box and into a catch can (a pill bottle works)

As for the oil leaks, those oval O rings are know to deteriorate over the decades. Just wipe it off and keep riding until it's pouring out

 

I run Rotella T synthetic in my 6 operating bikes with no issues at all

[gs7_11]

They've started making green Duckhams again for the classic car boys!